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SEWING TIP OF THE WEEK

Here is my sewing tip. This may be old hat to more experienced sewers, but I had not come upon this trick before.

I use the Transparency film for overhead projector presentations to print out templates of my embroidery motifs in color. The clear plastic film makes it possible to place the design exactly where you need it and position multiple images precisely on the fabric. I can place the template, step back and see how the embroidery will look on my project, it's a great way to "try out" different embroidery designs on a project before sewing it all out. I cut the sheet in half and tape them to a full size sheet of paper to get two templates out of each transparency sheet.

Tristen Hall
New Hampshire

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The following is the sequence of events which transpired over the weekend - Christopher has arrived in Paris and is going to be OK! Praise God.

EMERGENCY PRAYER REQUEST FROM JOHN AND SUZANNE -THIS ARRIVED AT MY OFFICE ABOUT NOON ON FRIDAY, JUNE 15!

Dear Prayers,
Last night, June 15, 2001 our son Christopher was flown to Paris for further medical care(John flew with him). A little over a week ago his puppy bit him and we didn't think that much about it but decided to watch the dog closely and have the vet check him. We had previously attempted to vaccinate the dog, but the vet had said he wasn't old enough yet. The puppy appeared to be fine, but then Wednesday night began acting strange and Thursday afternoon died from what the vet feels was rabies. Even though it was night we immediately began driving to the capital city as the rabies vaccine is not available where we live. At that point our business manager had purchased the vaccine and had it in the refrigerator ready for our arrival. We felt everything was well under control. We arrived at the doctor's office (Friday noon) with the vaccine and she told us that she would really prefer not to administer it if there were any way we could be evacuated to Europe. The vaccine available here is made from horse serum and that can cause an alergic reaction and even death, but in Paris he could get the vaccine based on human serum. It was really the hand of God that John was able to get a plane ticket out last night. The doctor arranged with the airline to have two passengers "bumped" so they could get out because Christopher really needs the vaccine within about 24 hrs. The Lord is in control and has worked out all the details so well. We would really appreciate your prayers for Christopher's healing, for their travel and for all the details to be worked out smoothly there in Paris.(They flew them to Europe instead of the USA because of the time factor). Right now I don't know how long they will be there, but will send further updates as we have news. Thank you so much for praying with us as we go through this.

In Christ,

Suzanne Crocker

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PRAISE TO GOD FOR HIS MIRACLES FOR OUR MISSIONARY FAMILY IN AFRICA

Isaiah 25:1 "O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth."

God is so wonderfully good and totally able to handle all situations. Let me share a little bit more of this story of God's wonderful mercy and graciousness toward our children in Africa. Because of a 24 hour time limitation to get help, my family had to gather passports, grab clothing and begin to travel the 7 hour trip to the capitol city to get serum for Christopher. I don't know if it is totally illegal or just not allowed to travel on the roads in Africa at night. Every 35 miles or so there are military stations. Whenever we have traveled in Africa, the soldiers stop all vehicles, look in the car and ask questions, etc. The soldiers have machine guns. John and Suzanne knew they had to travel part of the way in the dark - totally dangerous and not allowed - to get to the capitol city in time to get the serum. There are NO lights in Africa at all at night. No white lines in the middle of the road. Potholes abound about every half mile that you have to veer and dodge. With the children loaded up they headed in the dark toward the next city to get a hotel and rest before completing the journey the next morning. God allowed their vehicle to travel (at each military check point) rather than pulling them off the road. They shined the flashlight in the truck, John explained the medical emergency with his baby, and the soldiers told him to go on.

They took about 5 hours to go what normally takes 2 hours because of the extreme danger of the roads not being marked in any way and having to creep to not have a wreck because of the night travel. They checked into a hotel for a few hours sleep and began traveling again at daylight. You know what happened with the horse serum. Getting permission from the airlines to bump passengers involved our administrator's driving back across the big city to get written permission from the doctor in order to the purchase the tickets. It was getting close to 4 hours before the only plane left for Paris. Another complete miracle from God was getting two passengers taken off the flight to Paris and getting John and Christopher on that flight. The next flight for Paris was three days later. Planes don't travel every day into Benin and out!! They did not have three days time to get serum for Christopher since the dog bite was about 9 days before the dog died and they felt almost sure it had rabies.

Suzanne had sent me an emergency note telling us to pray. I started crying and I think I cried more than I have in the last 10 years. She gave phone numbers and one of them at the guest house where she and the girls are staying was incorrect. I called our mission board in Richmond and they got on the phone and found a cell phone number for our administrator and I called Jude Miller who was at the airport. I said over the very bad phone connection, "Jude, can I speak with John?" She said, "No you can't; because of God's miracles over the last few hours he and Christopher are sitting on a huge plane on the runway about to lift off." I cried even more thanking God for the miracles.

Richmond (International Mission Board for Southern Baptists) had found the correct number for the guest house and I rang the number. Suzanne answered the phone. I was crying so hard I could hardly talk and she was so much braver than I. However, she did say that she was about ready to get on a plane and come home. Believe me I was ready for her to do the same thing. The miracle here is that the phone hardly ever works in the guest house and when I rang the first time I reached Suzanne who told me in the e-mail she really needed to talk with me.

I have talked with her again today (Sunday) and she is feeling like a new person and has rested and is all excited about going in two weeks for mission training in Singapore. They will return to Africa after a month's training (concerning how to start a completely new ministry) and then home for furlough in the US for 10 months. I think they are ready for furlough but after talking with John in Paris, he is so excited about Singapore and returning to Benin (after 10 months in the US) to really begin this incredible ministry in unreached areas. After they both found out that Christopher is going to be completely OK, they are so much better. John told me that he will be speaking at many mission conferences while he is here on furlough and he is thrilled about the opportunity to tell people about missions in Africa. Yesterday is the first time I have talked with John since December. We are praying that the phone system will work in Benin by the time they get back. I miss e-mail most of all! John has to drive two hours to another country to send and receive e-mail. He only gets to go about every two weeks. Once again, I thank God that He has fixed this medical situation. For those of you who contribute to the Lottie Moon offering every Christmas, your gifts have paid for this treatment in Paris which saved my grandson's life. Thank you.

Philippians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice."

THERE IS HUMOR IN ALL SITUATIONS!!!

After Christopher's dog died, he suggested to Sarah Joy that they swap dogs - he gives her the dead dog in return for her live puppy!

Christopher hates shoes and they only had his flip flops with them in the capitol city since they were not expecting to go to Europe in the next 24 hours. After arriving in Paris, he did not want to wear shoes since he just hates shoes. John let him walk barefoot since he was going to a shoe store to buy him a nice pair of athletic shoes as soon as the stores opened. John said that several French people stopped him to tell him that his child certainly should have on shoes to walk in downtown Paris. He acknowledged that they were correct. John said he finally picked up Christopher (4 1/2 years old and 45 pounds) and carried him so he would not receive any more reprimands about his lack of shoes. He bribed him to put on his newly purchased shoes by promising him a McDonald's cheeseburger, fries and ice cream. Christopher quickly put on his new shoes.

John said that at the very famous rabies institute in Paris Christopher was so tired he was crying and in general acting very tired and cranky. Think of the car ride, the confusion, and the sudden trip overnight to Paris. He said that Christopher let out a couple of blood curdling screams and those physicians began to work very quickly to get his shots and get him out of there.

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LETTER FROM MARTHA

Dear Friends,

Texas, here we come!!!! This week is Martha's Sewing Market in Arlington, Texas! What a wonderful party we are going to have! We have more vendors than we have ever had with everything wonderful for sewing. The classes are fabulous. We have more pre-registered students than ever before! You can still buy tickets at the door. We open the doors for ticket sales at 7am and classes begin at 8am. You do not have to pre-register for classes - just choose the ones you want to go to and sit down if there is a seat. We run most of the classes every day so you can pick and choose for the whole three days (if you are able to come for three days). Please go to the web site to see the exact class schedule so you can plan your classes in advance. I can't wait to have many of you in my classes as well as meet you personally. I also look forward to having many of you in my pre-day sit and sew class on Wednesday before the market begins on Thursday.

I am thrilled that our new christening dress book is here. We went to Scottsdale last week for Anna Garrin's christening. She was gorgeous in her dress. When I arrived home the new book, "Anna Garrin's Baptismal Gown" was waiting for me with my newest grandbaby on the cover in her christening dress. The dress features lace shaping in the form of a tear drop which to me symbolizes the drops of blood which were shed on the cross. Inside each tear drop is beautiful machine embroidery with Christian symbols. There are also hand embroidery templates included similar to the machine embroidery ones for those who prefer hand embroidery. The dress is sized 6 - 18 months and it is 48 inches long. There is also a gorgeous slip with family history embroidered on the slip, and the bonnet is fabulous. The fabric of the dress is my very favorite - white silk dupioni in the Victorian Vines pattern. That has been our all time best seller in silk dupioni. There is also hand embroidery and hand silk ribbon work - all in white. (You can see the cover of the book by clicking on the appropriate section below taking you to the web site.)

We have an exciting survey coming to you via e-mail later this week. I would appreciate it if each of you would take the time to reply. I am curious as to what type of sewing machines you, my friends, have. I am also curious as to which machine you would purchase tomorrow if money were no object. We are planning more teacher licensing programs and I would also like to know if you were interested in coming to be a Martha Pullen licensed teacher, and which company would you like to be licensed with. If you would be kind enough when the survey comes to go to the survey and reply to the questions, I would appreciate it.

The baby doll survey showed us without a doubt that you do indeed want Gotz/Martha Pullen baby dolls! We will order them shortly and they should be ready to ship with a book of baby doll patterns by early November at the latest. I'll send more news when it is available.

I hope many of you are sewing up a storm for the Sew Beautiful contest. There will be so many winners because we are having so many categories. A few statistics: for the last contest several years ago, we had about 225 entries. If we have the same number of entries for this year, there is about a 25% chance that you will win a prize of some type. I am so excited about your entries and about your designing and sewing something with at least one totally new and creative element. Joanna will be head of the cataloging and organizing the entries when they come in, and she is very excited about getting to see everything first.

Cecil and Joanna danced in their recital Saturday night. Cecil, age 25 months, was the youngest child in the recital and she smiled ear to ear and danced every step. She loves the stage just as much as her mother and grandmother. I did my first solo at a dance recital in Chattanooga, when I was three years old, entitled, "Just Three." Joanna was a monkey in a beautiful version of "The Lion King" and I held my breath as this mother of two did back handsprings and other acrobatic tricks just like she did when she was 12. She did great. Cecil was a baby bumblebee.

For those of you who belong to the Internet Embroidery Club, you have an "extra" embroidery design which has been put on the web site. It fits 5" by 7" hoops and we hope you love it. IEC members get one 4" by 4" design every month. At least two months out of the year there is an extra embroidery design. Enjoy!

Don't forget that we have a prayer board as well as a message board on the web site. Please feel free to come share at both places. Just go to www.marthapullen.com and click on either.

I would like to thank each of you for allowing me to come into your home each week. It is a joy for me to write these letters and thanks for sharing your sewing tips, your recipes and your notes of encouragement you send via e-mail to my personal address marthap@marthapullen.com I look forward every week to telling you news which I hope will brighten your day and give you encouragement for your week. Each of us has struggles and somehow I feel as a sewing family we can share life's challenges a little better knowing someone cares.

In His Grip More Than Ever This Week,

Martha

FOLLOW THESE LINKS FOR INFORMATION ON EXCITING MARTHA PULLEN EVENTS!

The Arlington Market - This gives seminar descriptions and times!
http://www.marthapullen.com/market/mmkts.html

New Inspirations CD - Only available for Embroidery Club members 'til the
fall http://www.marthapullen.com/EmbroideryClub/embclubCD2/clubCD2.html

Teacher Licensing - Slots are filling fast! Check it out.
http://www.marthapullen.com/Licensing%20Pages/teachlic.html

Bonnet Kits - Heirloom projects simplified - Great Directions!
http://www.marthapullen.com/Web-bonnets/bonnetguide.html

Elegant Sewing for Baby - A runaway bestseller thanks to you!
http://store.marthapullen.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=1293&category_id
=2

Sew Beautiful Talent Search - Print out the forms to enter!
http://www.marthapullen.com/SBContest/Official.html

Anna Garrin's Baptismal Gown - Check out the sketches!
http://www.marthapullen.com/books/aggown.html

Sew Beautiful Subscriptions - subscribers get discounts on catalog items in
every issue! http://www.marthapullen.com/sewbeau/pmag.html

The London Trip - London at Christmas time - Join us for the time of your
life! http://www.marthapullen.com/london2001

The West Coast Sewing Extravanganza - You can see the classes and teachers
here! http://www.marthapullen.com/schools/calschooletter.html

PLEASE SEND ME YOUR SEWING TIPS AND RECIPES!

My personal e-mail at the office is marthap@marthapullen.com - Please send
me sewing tips and recipes. I love getting them and best of all sharing them
with lots of other people on this list. You are the greatest e-mail friends
anyone could ever hope to have and I do appreciate each of you so very much.

Try not to use info@martha pullen.com - you will get a quicker reponse by
using the list below. Save these email addresses!

orders@marthapullen.com (for order questions)
subscriptions@marthapullen.com (for Sew Beautiful subscriptions)
embroidery@marthapullen.com (Internet Embroidery Club questions)
editorial@marthapullen.com (for Sew Beautiful content)
schools@marthapullen.com (for School of Art Fashion)
licensing@marthapullen.com (for teacher licensing questions)
markets@marthapullen.com (for our sewing markets)
tours@marthapullen.com (for our increasing number of trips!)
sewingroom@marthapullen.com (for sewing questions)

SCRIPTURE OF THE WEEK

( I wrote this scripture message about Wednesday of last week, before all of the trouble with Christopher. As I read this scripture, again, after the Africa experience with our grandson, I realize that this was indeed a perfect scripture for me to read and study this whole week, not just the first of the week."

Daniel 2:20-21

"Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are his.
He changes times and seasons;
He sets up kings and deposes them."

Many of you know that I love Dr. Henry Blackaby's books. In his new book, "The Ways of God," I have found so much spiritual food. Many of you know that Dr. Henry's precious wife, Marilyn, loves heirloom sewing and comes to our school here in Huntsville when her schedule allows. I am going to quote a passage from this new book which has been particularly meaningful to me. So many times I try to plan and plan and direct my life instead of praying for God to do that. Since I know without a doubt that God is sovereign, and that He is perfect and He does not make mistakes, I wish I would not fall into the trap (so often) of trying to do things that God will do and can do perfectly for me.
Dr. Blackaby writes:
"When I was a young boy, I had an experience that is still as fresh as though it happened this morning. I realized that God is God, and I am not. This moment changed my life to this very day! For every person who recognizes this profound truth, there are many more who do not."

Again it reminds me that God is sovereign and omniscient - and I am not!

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

I am going to need all the low-calorie recipes available. I have to admit that after I went to Mama's to tell her about what was happening in Africa, I went immediately to Dairy Queen and had a Hawaiian Blizzard! I have not done well on my diet this weekend at all. Do you remember that I ate a M&M McFlurry after being in the earthquake in Washington State a few months ago? I did go to the gym 4 times last week. I will go again at 6 am in the morning. Probably I need to walk on that treadmill about 40 hours to make up for what I ate this weekend! Oh well, I'll start again tomorrow!

Lower Calorie Ice Cream Sandwiches
from Lynda Cooke

I have to share a recipe that was given at my weight watchers meeting of something that is absolutely delicious....and very low calorie. It does have some sugar though.
What you need is fat free Coolwhip....and a chocolate graham cracker. Break the graham cracker in half--put a dollop of the Coolwhip on half, put the other half on and make a sandwich--wrap it up in plastic wrap--and freeze. Yum, YUM!!!
On the WW plan--it counts for 1 point....and the calories are about 85 with 1/2 gram of fiber. This is a really satisfying cold treat and helps calm that little persistent sweet tooth....especially now that it is getting hot. My little 8 year old daughter loves these--and I KNOW it is much better for her than getting into the real ice cream.

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